Don’t Let One Potential Customer Slip Through Your Hands

By BY HEATHER L. ROBINSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREATER WESTFIELD AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

February 17, 2014 at 8:20 PM

The Greater Westfield Area Chamber of Commerce (GWACC) has been serving the towns and boroughs immediately adjacent to Westfield for some years now. However, we continue to bring that fact to light for many. You may ask yourself… "why not just serve Westfield, where your chamber had its start over 60 years ago?" Were you to ask that, you’d need to take a seat and grab a beverage, because the reasons are many.

Our towns are so close together that we naturally patronize unique businesses across borders! Restaurants are a great example of that, with business lunches, dinners, and happy hours being better attended in a fun new venue. Many other business models provide products and services that are not easy to find. Any such business enjoys the luxury of being able to draw customers from far and wide. That is exactly why we don’t only have members in Westfield and its adjacent four towns. Some of our members are much farther than that!

WHO you know is as important as WHAT you know! Given the choice, people tend to do business with people they know, and trust. Getting to know your neighbors is not only enjoyable, it is profitable.

Many members offer each other small discounts, in an attitude of goodwill. Every dollar you save is a dollar that pays for your membership fee! And, while we’re on the subject of membership fees; doing some research would reveal to you just how incredibly reasonable our chamber of commerce is, in comparison to most!

Member business reciprocity is not only something we say, it’s something we PREACH! Giving your fellow members the benefit of first consideration, when you have a buying decision to make, is the right thing to do. It helps increase the “soft” value of your membership, and increases your return on investment.

Street fair booths are drastically reduced for member businesses. For details, check out the pricing on our website. The discounts are DEEP!

Some businesses, these days, only have a minimal “bricks and mortar” presence, if at all. Our website, www.westfieldareachamber.com, is yet another place to be SEEN! Our online member directory is viewable by anyone who visits our site, instead of being password protected. That allows citizens who feel strongly in favor of “buy local,” to find your business easily! We also now have a paper directory, to serve as a tangible reminder of who we are, and how many business types we represent.

The GWACC is here to serve all of its member businesses, in their pursuit of economic viability. Come visit one of our monthly open networking events to learn more about how your business can benefit by joining!

For over 60 years, the Greater Westfield Area Chamber of Commerce (GWACC) has been connecting commerce and community. The GWACC promotes the economic prosperity of businesses primarily in Fanwood, Garwood, Mountainside, Scotch Plains and Westfield. It is the largest association of businesses and nonprofits in our area. Members include business owners, professionals, managers and operators. Membership cultivates the opportunity to build relationships, partner, make referrals, increase business, attend lunch and learns, and support the community.

The GWACC hosts three street fairs each year, two in Downtown Westfield and one in the center of Garwood. The chamber also operates the Westfield Farmers Market and runs the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) program. The GWACC monthly networking events — one in the early morning and one directly after work — serve as an opportunity for current members to network with each other regularly and for prospective members to come see what we're all about. In addition, the Professional Women’s Committee organizes networking events specifically tailored to women business owners, professionals, and entrepreneurs.

For more information about the GWACC, visit www.gwaccnj.com. You can also call the office at 908-233-3021 Monday through Friday between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Our office is located on the 3rd floor of the Bank of America building at 173 Elm Street, Westfield, NJ 07090.

The opinions expressed herein are the writer's alone, and do not reflect the opinions of TAPinto.net or anyone who works for TAPinto.net. TAPinto.net is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the writer.

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